Window Glue for Harrison

[Karen99]

Hi Friends,

I have gone ballistic and torn off several windows. Embraced sanding and fallen in love with Spacke (@havanaholly). I hope to have the courage to get some of the interior trim off...

Now I will need to glue the windows and trim back on...

Can you recommend a glue for the window film and frames? (I have a spare Harrison box set for parts). Would you glue the windows to the house and then add the frames s the instructions recommend? I have Titebond and Beacon Quick Grip. (And Gorilla Glue...)

You know the original instructions say hot glue gun, but I have read enough here to know—no!

Thanks all!

[havanaholly]

Well I'm no fun at all.  Once I have the frames all nicely sanded and smoothed the edges with spackle and painted all but the side I'll glue to the wall I take my bottle of Elmer's all-purpose white glue (NOT "school glue") and run a small bead around the outer edge of the acetate insert and very carefully drop it onto the unpainted back of the frame and clamp* it with small scraps of waxed paper between the clamp and the insert.  If any of the glue happens to squeege onto the window surface from under the frame wash it off with a piece of wet paper towel.  BTW, the Elmer's dries clear.

*

[Karen99]

Hi Holly! @havanaholly I knew you would know the answer! Thank you! I will do that. You give excellent instructions.

It's a little scary when more than one dollhouse pro tells me that I am taking on a big challenge, but I am ok with it. I visited our local dollhouse store today and she also told me it is a big undertaking to rehab this old, unstrategically built Greenleaf Harrison... (ie painting and papering the inside after the house is built... and there is sloppy glue...) Oh, the horror!

I now live to sand and spackle...

I am going to make this house as crisp and clean as I can. But sometimes I tell myself...this is an old house (it is) and it may have some imperfections...

I did not get into this to build a house, but I can now see how one would.

You are a gem! Thank you for all!

[havanaholly]

Since you have a pristine, NEW kit "for parts", if it were I, I would trace around the kit parts to make parts for any needing replacement on the "unstrategically built" house and save the pristine new parts to "strategically" (and correctly) build a pristine, NEW Harrison for myself and donate the rehab to Toys for Tots or some other charity.

[Karen99]

Hi Holly, Yes I will do something like that. The "New" one is not great either. It was started, partially painted, a little warped, and was shipped across the country. But it will definitely trace around parts and use parts of it.

I may build another after I get through this...

Maybe I am just a masochist lol! As a designer I was often very determined to "beat the project into submission" and I think that's what I am doing here.

I will start sanding again this morning lol.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

[havanaholly]

Ooo, "beating it into submission";  that sounds like great fun!  Oh, and once the insert is dry on its frame I glue the frame to the wall with the wood glue and hold it in placde with painters' tape.

[MamaV]

On 4/10/2024 at 4:13 PM, Karen99 said:

I visited our local dollhouse store today and she also told me it is a big undertaking to rehab this old, unstrategically built Greenleaf Harrison... (ie painting and papering the inside after the house is built... and there is sloppy glue...) Oh, the horror!

This definitely makes it harder (learned from experience) but it's not impossible and can be even more fun, because sometimes it lets you be at peace with making your own mistakes. Sometimes you just have to let yourself recognize that your best might not be perfect, but it is still your best and that's the important thing 🙂

[havanaholly]

Mistakes are the way we learn new skills when no other teacher is available.

[Karen99]

On 4/11/2024 at 1:56 PM, havanaholly said:

Ooo, "beating it into submission";  that sounds like great fun!  Oh, and once the insert is dry on its frame I glue the frame to the wall with the wood glue and hold it in placde with painters' tape.

Thanks Holly @havanaholly! I got the Elmer's glue. Here are some pix of what I am dealing with. These are the worst of the windows. I think I would like to rip out the interior window frames too if I can...any sage advice foe how to do that? You are very generous. Thank you.

And you can see I have ripped off the stair treads,,,

I am actually laughing out loud as I write this. What have I gotten myself into?

Thanks again for all!

[Karen99]

@MamaV and @havanaholly
Yes coming to terms with some things not being perfect. In my career as a graphic designer (when that was a viable career that required skill and talent) there were no mistakes allowed. I also study ballet and that is very disciplined. But in my ballet classes, we are from 40 to 80 years old, and we can only do what we can do.

All good lessons. With age comes humility .

[havanaholly]

I cannot imagine ballet at 82!  (Me)  I would jiggle a metal putty knife blade under that window frame and keep tapping the handle with a hammer until the frame comes off.  Then I'd sand that raised mess around where the frame was.  If the frame doesn't survive, see about finding some 1/4" x 1/8" strip wood to make a better replacement.  This is where a magnetic gluing jig comes in handy.

Edited April 18 by havanaholly

[Karen99]

Oh my Holly is there any trick you don't know? Small packages keep arriving here, almost daily lol. Now I definitely need one of those, or some kind of magnet set-up! I keep trying to jury-rig stuff, but the right tools are a great help. It's nice though because my father was very handy, and he is no longer here. I think of him when I work on the doll house.

I do have plenty of frame strips for the extra box, so I can make new frames. I will definitely try with the putty knife. 

I am having custom paint mixed tomorrow to match the wallpaper...I have an idea to make the turret area easier to do...I will try a bit of wallpaper only under the windows. But I am still quite far from that. I will post

Yes one of our ballet ladies is 80 and she is fabulous and skis as well! There is also a very accomplished guest instructor, who was a professional dancer, and I believe she could be 90, or at least late 80s. She is the most graceful human I have ever seen!

Back to spackling and sanding today.

Many thanks again for all!

[Karen99]

Holly and friends,

I am keeping a Word doc with your wonderful tips and advice.

Thank you all!

[MamaV]

Ooh! Would you be willing to make the doc public? Completely okay if not 🙂

[Karen99]

Yes absolutely! Great idea!  I need to clean it up a little and it will keep being updated. I will wait until I gather all the good tips and post it. But I won't wait too long.

How do you think I can best share it?

Thanks!

[MamaV]

1 hour ago, Karen99 said:

Yes absolutely! Great idea!  I need to clean it up a little and it will keep being updated. I will wait until I gather all the good tips and post it. But I won't wait too long.

How do you think I can best share it?

Thanks!

I would recommend using Google Docs, which, if you have a gmail account, should be free and easy to use. You just have to click the "share" button in the top right corner, and set it accordingly (I always recommend setting it either to "view" so nobody messes with it, or "Comment" so people can do exactly that without changing the document). Otherwise, if you just copy and paste the normal link, everyone will have to request access and it's a headache to sort through. 

[havanaholly]

9 hours ago, Karen99 said:

Oh my Holly is there any trick you don't know?...

ROTFLMAO!  Have you read my mantra "mistakes are learning opportunities when you have no other instructor"?  Obviously I have made a huge number of mess-ups; I learned early on to forget perfection and go for realism, and if you pay really close attention to the 1:1 world and objects around you, ain't none of them perfect.

[LPCullen]

I do something similar to Holly except I use aleenes tacky glue (also dries clear) to glue the pane to the window frame and clamp it until dry. I also use tacky glue to glue the window to the house but instead of taping it I will use a tiny dot of super glue (gel) on the corners of the windows because the super glue will grab and hold until the other glue dries. 

[Karen99]

Hi everyone!
Thanks for the replies!
@MamaV I will upload to Google docs when I have stopped asking a number of questions (lol) and have this better organized.
@LPCullen I particularly love glue tips. Thank you! Glue is my friend and nemesis at the moment. 
@havanaholly thanks for the laugh and the ongoing encouragement!

Here is my Passover tableau. We celebrate all holidays here. Still very much under construction but I cleaned up the dust so that the two five year-olds who are coming can play, but not with these items. But they have their own toys! Those wine glasses and decanter are 45 years old! From my first dollhouse.

 

[Karen99]

Hi everyone! 
A small update and a question.
I finally got the entire inside prime! Yay!!!
I also got the stairs painted and started gluing back the stair treads I ripped off, back on. I am painting the insides of the window edges... Me and my 000 brush.
A bit more is done...this is truly a lesson in learning patience.
I am working on the windows and stairs now. 

Question —I bought a vintage 1:12 sofa on eBay, but when it arrived I decided it did not fit so well for me. It has a glue stain and a little discoloration on one cushion, (I knew this when I purchased it). But it is still very nice. About 50 years old. Can you suggest a good place to sell it?

Thanks for all!

[havanaholly]

Why not recover the sofa and use it in another house?

[Karen99]

Hahahahahahaha! @havanahollyyou have figured out that I am hooked and will likely do another one. Help me now lol!

[havanaholly]

Karen, dear heart, dollhouses are like potato chips...